Anyone want to recommend some software for Linux?

[mike555]

To edit the menu you might want " menulibre".

[andrew.46]

Listening to music

If you are interested in listening to your music from your HDD you could do a lot worse than installing the commandline cd ripper abcde:

sudo apt-get install abcde

and if you are keen to rip to ogg vorbis the following ~/.abcde.conf file should prove useful:

# -----------------$HOME/.abcde.conf----------------- #
# 
# A sample configuration file to convert music cds to 
#       Ogg Vorbis using abcde version 2.5.3
# 
#       http://andrews-corner.org/abcde.html
# -------------------------------------------------- #

# Specify the encoder to use for Ogg Vorbis. In this case
# vorbize is the other choice.
OGGENCODERSYNTAX=oggenc

# Specify the path to the selected encoder. In most cases the encoder
# should be in your $PATH as I illustrate below, otherwise you will 
# need to specify the full path. For example: /usr/bin/oggenc
OGGENC=oggenc

# Specify your required encoding options here. Multiple options can
# be selected as '-q 6 --another-option' etc.
OGGENCOPTS='-q 6'  

# Output type for Ogg Vorbis
OUTPUTTYPE="ogg"

# The cd ripping program to use. There are a few choices here: cdda2wav,
# dagrab, cddafs (Mac OS X only) and flac.
CDROMREADERSYNTAX=cdparanoia            
                                     
# Give the location of the ripping program and pass any extra options:
CDPARANOIA=cdparanoia  
CDPARANOIAOPTS="--never-skip=40"

# Give the location of the CD identification program:       
CDDISCID=cd-discid            
                               
# Give the base location here for the encoded music files.
OUTPUTDIR="$HOME/music/"               

# The default actions that abcde will take.
ACTIONS=cddb,playlist,read,encode,tag,move,clean
              
# Decide here how you want the tracks labelled for a standard 'single-artist',
# multi-track encode and also for a multi-track, 'various-artist' encode:
OUTPUTFORMAT='${OUTPUT}/${ARTISTFILE}-${ALBUMFILE}/${TRACKNUM}.${TRACKFILE}'
VAOUTPUTFORMAT='${OUTPUT}/Various-${ALBUMFILE}/${TRACKNUM}.${ARTISTFILE}-${TRACKFILE}'

# Decide here how you want the tracks labelled for a standard 'single-artist',
# single-track encode and also for a single-track 'various-artist' encode.
# (Create a single-track encode with 'abcde -1' from the commandline.)
ONETRACKOUTPUTFORMAT='${OUTPUT}/${ARTISTFILE}-${ALBUMFILE}/${ALBUMFILE}'
VAONETRACKOUTPUTFORMAT='${OUTPUT}/Various-${ALBUMFILE}/${ALBUMFILE}'

# Create playlists for single and various-artist encodes. I would suggest
# commenting these out for single-track encoding.
PLAYLISTFORMAT='${OUTPUT}/${ARTISTFILE}-${ALBUMFILE}/${ALBUMFILE}.m3u'
VAPLAYLISTFORMAT='${OUTPUT}/Various-${ALBUMFILE}/${ALBUMFILE}.m3u'

# Put spaces in the filenames instead of the more correct underscores:
mungefilename ()
{
  echo "$@" | sed s,:,-,g | tr / _ | tr -d \'\"\?\[:cntrl:\]
}

# What extra options?
MAXPROCS=2                              # Run a few encoders simultaneously
PADTRACKS=y                             # Makes tracks 01 02 not 1 2
EXTRAVERBOSE=y                          # Useful for debugging
EJECTCD=y                               # Please eject cd when finished :-)

Have fun

[oldgraf]

@linktopower
Why is that VirtualBox ? You have celeron and only 1 GB ddr ram

[linktopower]

If you are interested in listening to your music from your HDD you could do a lot worse than installing the commandline cd ripper abcde:

sudo apt-get install abcde

and if you are keen to rip to ogg vorbis the following ~/.abcde.conf file should prove useful:

# -----------------$HOME/.abcde.conf----------------- #
# 
# A sample configuration file to convert music cds to 
#       Ogg Vorbis using abcde version 2.5.3
# 
#       http://andrews-corner.org/abcde.html
# -------------------------------------------------- #

# Specify the encoder to use for Ogg Vorbis. In this case
# vorbize is the other choice.
OGGENCODERSYNTAX=oggenc

# Specify the path to the selected encoder. In most cases the encoder
# should be in your $PATH as I illustrate below, otherwise you will 
# need to specify the full path. For example: /usr/bin/oggenc
OGGENC=oggenc

# Specify your required encoding options here. Multiple options can
# be selected as '-q 6 --another-option' etc.
OGGENCOPTS='-q 6'  

# Output type for Ogg Vorbis
OUTPUTTYPE="ogg"

# The cd ripping program to use. There are a few choices here: cdda2wav,
# dagrab, cddafs (Mac OS X only) and flac.
CDROMREADERSYNTAX=cdparanoia            
                                     
# Give the location of the ripping program and pass any extra options:
CDPARANOIA=cdparanoia  
CDPARANOIAOPTS="--never-skip=40"

# Give the location of the CD identification program:       
CDDISCID=cd-discid            
                               
# Give the base location here for the encoded music files.
OUTPUTDIR="$HOME/music/"               

# The default actions that abcde will take.
ACTIONS=cddb,playlist,read,encode,tag,move,clean
              
# Decide here how you want the tracks labelled for a standard 'single-artist',
# multi-track encode and also for a multi-track, 'various-artist' encode:
OUTPUTFORMAT='${OUTPUT}/${ARTISTFILE}-${ALBUMFILE}/${TRACKNUM}.${TRACKFILE}'
VAOUTPUTFORMAT='${OUTPUT}/Various-${ALBUMFILE}/${TRACKNUM}.${ARTISTFILE}-${TRACKFILE}'

# Decide here how you want the tracks labelled for a standard 'single-artist',
# single-track encode and also for a single-track 'various-artist' encode.
# (Create a single-track encode with 'abcde -1' from the commandline.)
ONETRACKOUTPUTFORMAT='${OUTPUT}/${ARTISTFILE}-${ALBUMFILE}/${ALBUMFILE}'
VAONETRACKOUTPUTFORMAT='${OUTPUT}/Various-${ALBUMFILE}/${ALBUMFILE}'

# Create playlists for single and various-artist encodes. I would suggest
# commenting these out for single-track encoding.
PLAYLISTFORMAT='${OUTPUT}/${ARTISTFILE}-${ALBUMFILE}/${ALBUMFILE}.m3u'
VAPLAYLISTFORMAT='${OUTPUT}/Various-${ALBUMFILE}/${ALBUMFILE}.m3u'

# Put spaces in the filenames instead of the more correct underscores:
mungefilename ()
{
  echo "$@" | sed s,:,-,g | tr / _ | tr -d \'\"\?\[:cntrl:\]
}

# What extra options?
MAXPROCS=2                              # Run a few encoders simultaneously
PADTRACKS=y                             # Makes tracks 01 02 not 1 2
EXTRAVERBOSE=y                          # Useful for debugging
EJECTCD=y                               # Please eject cd when finished :-)

Have fun

Thanks, this will come in handy

@linktopower
Why is that VirtualBox ? You have celeron and only 1 GB ddr ram

Well I had linux on it before and I ran VB just fine.
Well maybe it helps I was running Windows 2000 in it

[Sef]

That is a 'which is better, apples or blue' question. There are a million answers but none of them may be what you want.

Exactly, which is why it belongs in Recurring Discussions.

[Jakin]

Talk of audio encoding/ ripping your own musik.
I recommend XFCA, it may take abit of time to find codecs pakages (if you need all of them) but this gui encoder is easy, has endless options
You'll find it in ubuntu software centre.

[Petro Dawg]

Yeah I should'v said what I want to do with it shouldn't I

Anyways, Pretty much all I'm going to do is use it for just

Browsing the internet
Downloading stuff and torrent things
Listening to music
Watch videos.
Get on Chat rooms.
Play some minor games. Maybe emulate some things.

Pretty much do things. I like messing around with stuff.
I didn't do much with it in the first place

If you want to emulate some things, "ZSNES" is a great super NES emulator and all the great ROMS of the past are plentyfull (especially if you like RPGS). The Nintendo 64 emulator "mupen64plus" is a little buggy (on my system for some ROMS anyway) but seems to play the Zelda games well. The N64 emulator takes a little effort to get installed (installs in terminal) but is worth the time in figuring it out.

I haven't found much in the way of easy to use stable emulators for any more recent gaming system.